Juan Cole

Caretaker Government may Contain the Expatriate Politicians Alissa Rubin of the LA Times reports that the original Brahimi plan has had to be abandoned, a victim of the prisoner torture scandal. Washington and Brahimi had wanted to appoint a caretaker government of faceless bureaucrats. The heads of Iraqi parties with some grass roots and popularity, […]

Partition of Iraq Would be Wrong: Dawisha Adeed Dawisha an Iraqi political scientist, explains why talk of partitioning Iraq is wrong. ” . . . nothing that has happened on the ground imposes[partition]. There has been no bloodshed among and between Shiites, Kurds and Sunnis. Indeed, in a brief moment in April, Shiite cleric Moqtada […]

Condemnations of Prisoner Abuse, Berg Murder in Middle East From BBC World Monitoring: “Egypt condemns Iraq torture, beheading: Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Mahir on 13 May condemned pictures showing Iraqi prisoners being abused and the decapitation of a US civilian, the Egyptian news agency MENA reported. He described the torture and abuse of Iraqi prisoners […]

Condemnations of Prisoner Abuse, Berg Murder in Middle East From BBC World Monitoring: “Egypt condemns Iraq torture, beheading: Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Mahir on 13 May condemned pictures showing Iraqi prisoners being abused and the decapitation of a US civilian, the Egyptian news agency MENA reported. He described the torture and abuse of Iraqi prisoners […]

Did Israel Try to Take out a US Ambassador? There is strong evidence in recently released diplomatic papers that Israel’s secret police, Mossad, attempted to assassinate the US ambassador to Lebanon, John Gunther Dean, in 1979, but failed–this according to Ambassador Andrew Killgore. Killgore writes The Dean paper–which include documents, messages, reports and telegrams–constitute hard […]

Did Israel Try to Take out a US Ambassador? There is strong evidence in recently released diplomatic papers that Israel’s secret police, Mossad, attempted to assassinate the US ambassador to Lebanon, John Gunther Dean, in 1979, but failed–this according to Ambassador Andrew Killgore. Killgore writes The Dean paper–which include documents, messages, reports and telegrams–constitute hard […]

Negotiations Collapse amid Fierce Fighting in Karbala US forces, having collapsed half of the historic al-Mukhayyam Mosque and set 7 hotels on fire in its environs in Karbala, are continuing to fight Mahdi Army militiamen in the area around the shrine of Imam Husain. Az-Zaman reports that fighting is also heavy in the eastern, al-Abbasiyah […]

Negotiations Collapse amid Fierce Fighting in Karbala US forces, having collapsed half of the historic al-Mukhayyam Mosque and set 7 hotels on fire in its environs in Karbala, are continuing to fight Mahdi Army militiamen in the area around the shrine of Imam Husain. Az-Zaman reports that fighting is also heavy in the eastern, al-Abbasiyah […]

Reader Comment: Where is Sistani? Hayder Gallaghan writes, “The silence of Sayyid Sistani has become deafening. An historic masjid destroyed, along with neighboring hotels and the better part of a shopping district. One report says that they were stacking bodies in the streets. But no U.S. soldiers killed! One Iraqi who witnessed the carnage said […]